How closed borders signal European Union’s demise

[marmar]

(MarketWatch) If there were still any doubts that European integration is going full speed in reverse, the unilateral decision by Germany this week to reinstitute border controls to stem the tide of refugees should put them to rest.

The ability to cross from one European country to another without passport controls, enshrined in the 1985 Schengen Agreement (named after the Luxembourg village where it was signed), has been rightly trumpeted as one of integration’s great successes.

But when European Union political and economic integration stalled, as it has for most of the new century, and national governments retained control, the days of a borderless Europe — like those of a common currency — were numbered.

Both were proclaimed to be “irreversible.” But Germany put the option on the table during negotiations for the latest bailout of Greece to give that country a “time out” from the euro — a “temporary” withdrawal from the joint currency.

And it is now Germany once again — and once again for its own short-sighted political objectives — that has imposed a “temporary” suspension of the Schengen Agreement and restored passport controls on its border with Austria. ................(more)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-european-union-disintegrates-as-the-borders-close-2015-09-18

[HassleCat]

1. Schengen has never been unconditional

Most of the border crossings are wide open, and they don't even slow you down, but there are times when they stop your car and ask to see your ID. The borders are open to citizens of other EU nations, but not to everybody. The editorial at the link laments the end of Schengen, but fails to point out that Schengen was not intended to facilitate the wholesale immigration of tens of thousands of refugees. The EU response to the refugee crisis seems reasonable.